SOUTH Africa’s Neil Schietekat described the FBC Zimbabwe Open as the biggest win of his career so far after clinching the coveted title despite a closing two-over-par 74 in the final round at Royal Harare Golf Club yesterday.
The victory was Schietekat’s fourth on the Sunshine Tour following his wins at the 2013 Platinum Classic and the Sun City Challenge and Vodacom Origins — Arabella wins in 2018.
Schietekat is now the 11th successive South African winner of the FBC Zimbabwe Open since the tournament’s return on the Sunshine Tour schedule in 2010.
However, he revealed that the FBC Zimbabwe Open, which ended his five-year wait for a fourth victory was his best thus far as it was his first in a 72-hole competition as well as his maiden win outside South Africa.
“It’s a very special win for me, it’s my biggest win so far,” said the 39-year-old golfer from Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.
“It’s my first win in a four-round event, a lot of the events we play all year on the Sunshine Tour are three-round events, so this being a four-round event I have shown myself that I can win four-round events and it means a lot to me.
“The greens (here at Royal Harare) are probably the best greens we put on all year and the fact that we play on so many golf courses all year says a lot. They are the best and like I said in all the different interviews I will be back next year and I’m looking forward to coming back,” he said.
Schietekat started the final day with a commanding seven-shot lead over his compatriots Jonathan Broomhead and Wynand Dingle following a sizzling 66 on Saturday.
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Despite extending his advantage to eight strokes early on the front nine, where he made three birdies and two bogeys, the South African had to work for his victory following a tough stretch on the back nine, where he had two bogeys and a double bogey on the par-four 10th.
In the end, Schietekat settled for a tournament total of 11 under par 277. He said he had to draw from his experience as a former winner on tour during his back nine struggles.
“I have won three events before and this is my fourth title I just kind of stuck to what I did when I win tournaments on tough golf courses. I had to stay in the moment and not get ahead of myself and take it shot by shot.”
Schietekat was four shots ahead of the South African duo of Jaco Alhers (70) and Jacques de Villiers (68) and Greece’s Peter Karmis (70), who all finished in a three-way tie for second on seven-under-par 281. Another South African Ryan Van Velzen was alone in fifth position on six-under-par while Zimbabwe’s Kieran Vincent finished tied for sixth position with Van Niekerk Danie on three-under-par.
Harare-born Stephen Ferreira, who competes under the Portuguese flag was tied for eight on two-under 286 while Ghana-based Biggie Chibvuri was the second highest-placed Zimbabwean on the leaderboard on level par.
